Narsinghpur, Madhya Pradesh:

Former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath has taken a pot-shot at Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan saying that people of the state have decided to give him a warm farewell.

Kamal Nath made the remark while addressing an election rally in Kareli in Madhya Pradesh’s Narsinghpur district on Wednesday.

“Wherever I go, I see that people have decided to give Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan a warm farewell. Shivraj Singh’s 22,000 announcements and his announcement machine was running at double speed in the last five months. The battery of the announcement machine is going to run out soon. If he did not lie every day, his food would not get digested,” Kamal Nath said.

He further said the picture of the state was in front of the people.

“Today, the picture of the entire state is in front of you (Public), how the state has been ruined. Ruined Agriculture system, ruined education facility, ruined health facility, ruined industry facility, ruined economy facility, ruined law and order situation, ruined Panchayat system and ruined rations facility. How much can I say? This ruined state is in front of you today,” the former Chief Minister said.

Kamal Nath also said that the biggest challenge he saw was the future of the youth of the state as there were one crore unemployed youth in the state.

“I look towards the youth of the state; the biggest challenge I face today is the future of these youth. Today’s youth does not want any contract or commission; he wants an employment opportunity. These youths will build the future of the state in future. If the future of these youth remains in darkness, then how will the state be built? This is the biggest challenge. One crore youth are unemployed in Madhya Pradesh,” Kamal Nath added.

Madhya Pradesh is one of the five states set to hold elections this year. The state is scheduled to undergo polls in one phase on November 17 and the counting of votes will take place on December 3. Voters will choose legislators from 230 Assembly constituencies.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bhopal:

Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh on Monday asserted his party colleague Kamal Nath wanted to have an alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP) for the next month’s Madhya Pradesh assembly polls “with full honesty”, but maintained he does not know how the talks for a tie-up between the two INDIA bloc members got derailed.

Digvijaya Singh praised SP president Akhilesh Yadav for his leadership qualities, but disagreed with Mr Nath, the Madhya Pradesh Congress head, over his choice of words while dismissing his (Yadav’s) criticism for not leaving any seat in MP for the Uttar Pradesh-based party for the November 17 polls.

The former CM said he had suggested Mr Nath to leave four assembly seats for the SP, which wanted to field nominees in half a dozen segments.

Talking to reporters at his residence in Bhopal, he sought to downplay the war of wards between the Congress and the SP that erupted after the national outfit did not allocate any assembly seat to the Yadav-led party despite the two being constituents of the INDIA alliance.

“It is okay… friendly fights do take place between alliance partners, but I know the SP and Akhilesh will never go with the BJP,” said the Rajya Sabha member.

After the SP president slammed the Congress leadership last week for not having an alliance in Madhya Pradesh, Mr Nath, while replying to questions from media persons on the tie-up issue, had reportedly said, “Chhodiye Akhilesh Vakhilesh” (just leave Akhilesh).

Digvijaya Singh disapproved of Kamal Nath’s dismissal of Mr Yadav’s criticism.

“I don’t know how he (Nath) said so. One should avoid such reactions about a leader of the (INDIA) alliance,” he said.

The Rajya Sabha member maintained there a discussion within the Congress over having a tie-up with the SP for the polls to the 230-member assembly.

The SP has released its own lists of candidates for more than two dozen seats.

Digvijaya Singh said “Nath had sent Congress leader Ashok Singh to me for a discussion with SP leaders led by Deep Narayan Yadav. We had a discussion in this room (of his residence in Bhopal). They (SP) had won one seat Bijawar (in Bundelkhand region in 2018 polls) and were second in two others. The SP wanted six seats, but I suggested Nath to leave four seats for the SP.

“Later, the matter went to the Congress Working Committee and the party’s central leadership, but they left the issue of (tie-up with SP) to the state leadership.” Digvijaya Singh said the INDIA grouping will contest the next Lok Sabha polls unitedly, but maintained issues related to state elections are different.

“I don’t know where this talk (of alliance in MP) got derailed. But as far as Nath is concerned, I can say he wanted to have an alliance with the SP with full honesty (Kamal Nath ji poori imandar is samjhouta karna chahta the),” he said.

The Congress veteran recalled his strong bonding with SP patriarch and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister the late Mulayam Singh Yadav.

When pointed out that posters of Akhilesh Yadav as future Prime Minister were displayed in Lucknow, Mr Singh feigned ignorance about the matter.

Answering a question over the Congress fielding sitting MLA from Pichhore KP Singh from Shivpuri, part of the home turf of Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Rajya Sabha MP said his party colleague was a popular leader and also his relative.

Asked whether this was done to prevent Scindia from contesting from Shivpuri on a BJP ticket, Digvijaya Singh said, “Definitely. He (Scindia) ran away as he was scared (to face KP Singh).” Sitting BJP MLA from Shivpuri and state minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia, an aunt of Jyotiraditya Scindia, has opted out of contesting elections due to her ill health.

Earlier, Digvijaya Singh had publicly disapproved of Mr Nath’s “tear clothes” remarks made in context of distribution of poll tickets, during an event organised to release the Congress manifesto last week.

A video of Mr Nath, where he is asking party men to “tear clothes” of his colleague Singh over denial of ticket to a leader from Shivpuri, fuelled talks of a rift in the party over selection of nominees.

In the viral video, Mr Nath is heard telling a group of people, said to be supporters of party leader Virendra Raghuvanshi, that he had left the issue of (selection of Raghuvanshi’s seat) to Digvijaya Singh and his MLA-son Jaivardhan Singh.

The state Congress president is then heard telling the group to “tear clothes” of Digvijaya Singh (over the ticket denial issue).

Mr Raghuvanshi, a former BJP legislator, joined the Congress earlier this month. He had sought a Congress ticket from the Shivpuri assembly seat, but the party fielded KP Singh, a six-time MLA from Pichhore, from there.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bhopal:

The togetherness of the INDIA bloc has acquired a question mark against it, with the Congress and Samajwadi Party fielding candidates against each other on five seats in Madhya Pradesh. State Congress chief Kamal Nath said while the focus of the Opposition alliance is on the Lok Sabha elections, it would have been good if the Madhya Pradesh Assembly election could have been a contested as a bloc.

The Congress released the first list of 144 candidates on the first day of Navratri at the “auspicious hour” of 9.09 am. But it appeared that the Samajwadi Party present found it inauspicious, because it waited another 8 hours to release the names of its candidates.

Both Congress and the Samajwadi Party have fielded candidates on five seats — Bhander (Scheduled Caste seat), Rajnagar, Bijawar, Chitrangi (Scheduled Caste) ST and Katangi.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “The Congress should decide whether they want an alliance at the state level or national level. If they don’t want an alliance at the state level, then in future there will be no alliance on state level”.

Kamal Nath said talks are still on with the SP and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party at the Centre. “We want the SP to help us defeat the BJP. I thank Akhilesh Yadav, as he aims to defeat the BJP. He told this to me personally”.

The “local situation” in Madhya Pradesh, he added, is proving a challenge.

“There are practical glitches due to local situations. Our candidates aren’t ready to fight on the SP poll symbol, even if the SP says it is ready to field our candidates on its symbol. In such a situation, what shall we do? These are practical aspects on the ground,” he said.

In 2018, the SP had won one seat (Bijawar in Bundelkhand region) and finished second on five other seats, securing 1.30 per cent votes in alliance with tribal centric Gondwana Gantantra Party.

The party’s vote share in alliance with the GGP was even less than the Independents, who got 5.82 per cent votes.

SP’s only MLA Rajesh Shukla defeated the BJP candidate by over 36,000 votes. The Congress was a distant third on that seat. Mr Shukla, however, joined the BJP before the 2022 Presidential polls.

The five SP candidates, who finished second in 2018 polls, included Dr Shishupal Yadav (Prithvipur), ex-MLA Meera Deepak Yadav (Niwari), ex-MLA Kankar Munjare (Paraswada) his wife Anubha Munjare (Balaghat) and Kapidwaj Singh (Gurh).

This time, the entry of AAP in Madhya Pradesh will also change some equations.

AAP has some grassroot support – the party scored big in the civic elections and has a mayor, 52 councilors, 118 Sarpanches, 10 District Panchayats and 25 district members. Having received 6 per cent votes in the civic elections, it can make a dent in the votes of Congress-BJP on at least 51 seats.

While the main contest will be between the BJP and the Congress, this time, the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will contest on 230 seats, due to which competition will be tough on at least 100 seats.

The GGP has its base in tribal regions like Mahakaushal and Baghelkhand, whereas the BSP’s voter base is good in Gwalior-Chambal, Bundelkhand and Vindhya.

The BSP is contesting on 178 seats and GGP on 52 seats. In 2018, the BSP got more than 30,000 votes on 18 seats, while the GGP got more than 30,000 votes on six seats.

Last time, the BSP got about 5 per cent votes. The results were affected due to BSP in 28 seats. The GGP had got around 2 per cent votes, which affected the results on 9 seats.

Last time, the BSP had won on two seats and was second on 6 seats.
GGP was second on two seats.

There are 21 per cent tribal and 15 per cent Dalit voters in the state.
This alliance on 82 reserved seats can tweak the equation for the BJP and the Congress.

In the last elections, BJP got 41.02 per cent votes and the Congress 40.89 per cent votes.

Gwalior:

Latching on to Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath’s “tear clothes” jibe at his party colleague Digvijaya Singh, Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Wednesday the voters of the poll-bound state will not allow such leaders to form government.

Mr Scindia, who quit the Congress and joined the BJP in March 2020, said the opposition party’s manifesto for the November 17 assembly polls has a long list of promises but none of them are going to be fulfilled.

A viral video of Mr Nath where he is asking Congress workers to “tear clothes” of his colleague Digvijaya Singh over denial of ticket to a leader from Shivpuri fuelled talks of a rift in the party over selection of nominees. However, both the former CMs sought to make light of the episode and put up a united face ahead of the polls and attended the Congress’s manifesto release function on Tuesday.

Asked about Mr Nath’s comment and the controversy generated by the viral video, Mr Scindia said the Congress wants to tear down everything.

The BJP Rajya Sabha MP said his own thinking is to work for people’s development and strengthen his party’s organization.

“If Congress leaders are talking like this, what will happen to the people of Madhya Pradesh if they get power? But I believe the people will not allow this to happen,” Mr Scindia said.

He took a dig at the Congress manifesto, saying its easy to prepare the pre-poll document but the party will not be able to fulfil the promises made in it.

In its 106-page manifesto, the Congress has listed 59 promises and 101 “main guarantees”. Key promises include conducting a caste survey, 27 per cent reservation to the OBCs, a farm loan waiver, Rs 25 lakh medical insurance for all residents and an IPL team for MP if voted to power.

The Congress “ruined” the state in its 15-month rule (December 2018 to March 2020) and the people will not forgive the opposition party and its two senior leaders (Digvijaya Singh and Nath), he said.

On contesting elections from his home turf Gwalior, the Union minister said he is an ordinary BJP worker and follows the party’s directives.

In the viral video that surfaced on Tuesday, Nath is heard telling a group of people, said to be supporters of party leader Virendra Raghuvanshi, that he had left the issue of (selection of Raghuvanshi’s seat) to Digvijaya Singh and his MLA-son Jaivardhan Singh which might have caused some confusion.

The state Congress president is then heard telling the group to “tear clothes” of Digvijaya Singh (over the ticket denial issue).

Raghuvanshi, a former BJP legislator, joined the Congress earlier this month. He had sought a Congress ticket from the Shivpuri assembly seat, but the party fielded KP Singh, a six-time MLA from Pichhore, from there.

On Tuesday, both Nath and Digvijaya Singh were seen together at the release of the Congress manifesto in the state capital and they talked about the video’s content in a lighter vein.

As the BJP latched on to the video to target the Congress, Nath clarified that the relations between Digvijaya Singh and him are not merely political.

“It is of love. I have given the power of attorney long back to him (Digvijaya), which was for listening abuses for Kamal Nath. This power of attorney is still valid,” Nath had said jokingly.

Polling for the 230 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh, where the Congress and the BJP are engaged in a direct fight, will be held in a single phase and votes will be counted on December 3. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bhopal:

The video of an on-stage banter between Congress leaders Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh has emerged as a big talking point in Madhya Pradesh, with the BJP calling it a sign of infighting and Congress leaders saying the video just captures a light moment between two veterans.

अंतर्कलह से जूझ रही कांग्रेस की कपड़ा फाड़ प्रतियोगिता!

मध्य प्रदेश कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष करप्शननाथ और राज्यसभा सांसद Mr. बंटाधार भरे मंच पर एक-दूसरे से भिड़े… pic.twitter.com/nkD4a1dp2t

— BJP Madhya Pradesh (@BJP4MP) October 17, 2023

The video is from an event during which the Congress’s Madhya Pradesh unit released its manifesto for the November 17 election. The polls in the BJP-ruled state are expected to be a close contest as the Congress pushes hard for a victory.

कमल नाथ जी से मेरे पारिवारिक रिश्ता १९८० से है। हमारे बीच में कई बार कई मुद्दों पर मतभेद रहे है। दो मित्रों में मतभेद होना स्वाभाविक ही है लेकिन मनभेद नहीं रहे। एमपी कांग्रेस के घोषणा पत्र के समय मेरे और कमल नाथ जी के बीच का मज़ाक़िया संवाद। अवश्य सुनिए।⁦@INCIndia⁩ ⁦ pic.twitter.com/vpc7454N45

— digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) October 17, 2023

Kamal Nath is the state Congress president and the face of the party’s Assembly poll campaign. Mr Singh, a former Chief Minister, is a Rajya Sabha MP and one of the tallest leader of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh.

In the video, Mr Nath is heard saying that when he was asked to “tear Digvijaya Singh’s clothes for not fulfilling promises”, he had replied that the people should do so if their concerns are not heard.

Mr Singh, who was on the stage, intervened and said the party’s documents are signed by the state Congress chief. “Then whose clothes should be torn?” he asked as party leaders laughed.

Responding, Mr Nath said his relationship with Mr Singh is not political. “It is a relationship of jokes and laughs, of love. Long back, I had given him a power of attorney that he will face verbal abuses for me. That power of attorney is still valid,” he said.

At this, Mr Singh responded, “But people should know who is making mistakes”. “Whether it is your mistake or not, you will face abuses,” Mr Nath said, amid cheers and claps from other leaders.

The state Congress chief reiterated that he and Mr Singh go back a long way. “As I said, it is not a political relationship. It is a family relationship.”

Mr Singh quipped, “He is basically saying, Lord Shiva’s job is to drink poison. Fine, I will drink it.”

As soon as the video circulated on social media, the BJP said infighting in the Congress has come out in the open. “A contest to tear clothes within infighting-hit Congress,” the BJP said in a post on X, adding that the state Congress chief and Rajya Sabha MP were fighting in the open.

Soon after, Mr Singh put out a post on X, saying he and Mr Nath go back a long way. “I have a family relationship with Kamal Nath since 1980. We have had differences on several issues. It is natural for two friends to have differences of opinion, but we have never had a difference of heart,” he said, sharing a video of the banter and requesting people to watch it.

New Delhi:

Congress on Sunday released the first list of 144 candidates for the upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, fielding state unit president and former Chief Minister Kamal Nath from Chhindwara.

The list includes prominent names such as former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Former Minister of Higher Education of Madhya Pradesh Jitu Patwari, Jaivardhan Singh, Member of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly Vijayalakshmi Sadho and Member of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly Lakshman Singh.

Former chief minister Digvijaya Singh’s son Jaivardhan Singh has been fielded from the Raghigath seat.

The announcement came after the party’s Central Election Committee met to finalise candidates at the AICC office in the national capital.

Notably, the Kamal Nath government collapsed in March 2021 when 22 sitting Congress MLAs resigned under the leadership of Jyotiraditya Scindia and joined the BJP.

Apart from Madhya Pradesh, the party has also declared candidates for 30 seats in Chhattisgarh and 55 in Telangana.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has already announced candidates for 136 out of 230 assembly constituencies in the state.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will contest from his traditional Budhni seat.

The Congress is bidding to wrest power from the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, with Rahul Gandhi and his sister and the party’s national general secretary, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, already holding a clutch of rallies in the state.

Madhya Pradesh is scheduled to undergo assembly polls on November 17. Through the polls, the state will elect legislators from 230 Assembly constituencies. The election will be conducted in one phase in the state and the counting will take place on December 3.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bhopal:

A fierce competition among parties to offer freebies and guarantees, a scramble for tribal, OBC, women votes and a touch of Hindutva – all have combined to make the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls a high-stakes battle with main rivals BJP and the Congress pulling out all the stops to gain power.

After a close contest in 2018, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress are marshalling all resources at their disposal to notch a clear majority in the 230-member House to avoid post-result complications.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is on a freebies-announcing spree, mostly for women, and state Congress president Kamal Nath is countering his rival’s doles with his own pre-poll guarantees and wooing OBC voters.

With a long history of bipolar politics, dominated by the Congress and the BJP, Madhya Pradesh — located in the geographic heart of India — will also see the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) trying to make its presence felt in the state this time around.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is trying to regain its lost voter base in the state, where it had committed Dalit electors and pockets of influence for decades.

At a time when four-term BJP chief minister Mr Chouhan (64) and his astute rival Mr Nath (76) are fighting the toughest electoral battle of their political careers, Delhi CM and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal is going all out to see that his outfit puts up a convincing show and wins a good number of seats.

Mr Kejriwal along with Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann has visited MP and addressed four rallies since March and announced plenty of freebies like free education, medical care and electricity to win over voters and take on the well entrenched parties like the BJP and the Congress.

The BJP is pinning hopes on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma to get voters on their side with “MP Ke Man Mein Modi” slogan and theme song of electioneering focused on him. Prime Minister Modi has addressed seven rallies in just 6 months.

The BJP is avoiding projecting Mr Chouhan as its chief ministerial candidate in an attempt to blunt anti-incumbency against him.

But this has not dampened the spirit of Mr Chouhan, the party’s longest-serving chief minister and a leader from LK Advani’s era who is still active in the Prime Minister Modi-led BJP.

Undaunted by central leadership’s lack of open support for him, Mr Chouhan, known for his ‘mama’ (maternal uncle) image, has been announcing a slew of sops to voters, especially women.

He has already hiked the financial aid under the ‘Ladli Behna Yojana’ from Rs 1,000 a month to Rs 1,250 and then to Rs 1,500 (proposed) for 1.32 crore women in the state.

The state government has earmarked a whopping Rs 16,000 crore for the scheme targeted at women from financially weaker sections. It has promised to raise the financial aid to Rs 3,000 per month gradually.

Mr Chouhan has reached out to more than half of the 2.6 crore women voters, who outnumber their male peers in at least 18 assembly seats, as per an estimate.

The CM launched the Ladli Behna Yojana barely two days after Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra kick-started her party’s campaign with a rally in Jabalpur on June 12 where she announced Rs 1,500 per month to eligible women under the ‘Nari Samman Nidhi’ if her party is voted to power.

She also announced 100 units of free electricity to every household and LPG cylinders at Rs 500 each.

Priyanka Gandhi said the old pension scheme would be brought back for MP government employees if the Congress came to power.

Months after Priyanka Gandhi’s promise, Mr Chouhan also announced to provide a cooking gas cylinder at Rs 500.

Besides, the CM is spending more than Rs 3,000 crore on building, rebuilding or sprucing up temples, including the Mahakaleshwar Temple in Ujjain, and museums attached to them.

On September 21, Mr Chouhan unveiled a 108-feet tall statue of Hindu saint Adi Shankaracharya at Omkareshwar in Khandwa district.

For the Congress, Priyanka Gandhi and her brother Rahul Gandhi are leading the campaign. Priyanka Gandhi, who opened the Congress campaign in June, has addressed two rallies since then.

Priyanka Gandhi started her visit by worshipping the Narmada river in Jabalpur amid chants of ‘Jai Narmada’ and ‘Jai Bajrang Bali’. The day she sounded the poll bugle, the replica of Lord Hanuman’s mace dotted busy road crossings in Jabalpur city.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, according to party insiders, will focus on 35 seats reserved for SC candidates. Mr Kharge addressed a rally in Sagar district in August.

Besides PM Modi, other top BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, a key poll strategist, and party president JP Nadda are also focusing on the state.

In the Congress camp, party veteran Digvijaya Singh has already thrown his weight behind Kamal Nath and backed him as the CM face.

Last time around, Mr Nath proved his mettle by leading the Congress to power in 2018 and then becoming the CM though he could not complete his term due to a rebellion by MLAs supporting now Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Mr Nath has been aggressively wooing the OBCs, who account for 45 per cent of MP’s population. During his 15-month-long stint as CM, he raised the quota for the OBCs from 14 per cent to 27 per cent.

Although the court overturned the decision, citing 50 per cent cap on reservation, the political move made it clear the Congress is banking heavily on the OBCs.

Knowing the OBCs were overwhelmingly with the BJP in the last three assembly polls, Mr Nath is nurturing the formidable vote bank in the current elections.

Apart from promising to restore 27 per cent reservation for the OBCs, the Congress has assured a caste-based census in MP and support for OBC quota within the Women’s Reservation Bill.

Mr Nath and his party are also taking on the BJP over corruption. The opposition party has been raising slogans like “50 per cent commission ki sarkar” to allege massive graft under the BJP rule.

To counter BJP’s Hindutva, Mr Nath organised mega religious events in his home turf Chhindwara where Hindu preachers Dhirendra Shastri and Pradeep Mishra delivered sermons to tens of thousands of devotees.

The former Union minister also projected himself as an ardent devotee of Lord Hanuman and reminded people he had built a 102-feet- tall idol of the Hindu god in Chhindwara.

The BJP has stolen a march on the Congress by declaring 79 candidates so far. The saffron party has fielded three Union ministers – Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste — and four other Lok Sabha MPs besides general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya.

Mr Tomar, Mr Patel and Mr Vijayvargiya, according to political observers, nurse the dream of becoming CM. Besides them, MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra is also seen as a CM aspirant.

According to Congress leaders, the party has received more than 4,000 applications for the 230 assembly seats, making selection of candidates a cumbersome and tricky affair.

The Congress has launched ‘Jan Aakrosh Yatras’ (public outrage marches) to cash in on what it sees as voter resentment against the BJP.

The BJP has already completed its ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatras’ (marches to seek people’s blessings) and come up with the slogan ‘abki bar 150 par’ (victory in more than 150 seats this time).

In the November 2018 polls, the Congress had won 114 seats, while the BJP finished second with 109.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Kamal Nath is the Congress’ chief ministerial face in Madhya Pradesh as he is the president of state congress committee, party leader Randeep Surjewala said Saturday. Mr Nath has earlier held the top post.

On being asked about the party’s face for the Chief Minister’s post in Madhya Pradesh, Mr Surjewala told the reporters that whoever is the president of Pradesh Congress naturally becomes the face of the party.

“Kamal Nath is the president of Madhya Pradesh Congress and whoever is the president of Pradesh Congress, that person is naturally the face of Congress,” Mr Surjewala said.

Talking about the Central Election Committee meeting of Congress, which was held to finalise candidates for the upcoming assembly elections, Mr Surjewala said a decision regarding the seats will be made in the next meeting.

He further said that the people of the state want a “change”.

“Discussion was held on the political situation of Madhya Pradesh, the way Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has taken the state on the path of destruction. There has been crime against women in the state and corruption is on the rise. Madhya Pradesh wants change. Another meeting will be called and a decision will be made over the seats,” the Congress leader said.

After the meeting, Kamal Nath, while speaking to the reporters said that no decision has been taken at present regarding the name of the candidates.

“We have held discussions on several names. At present, no decision has been taken. The decision will be taken in the next 6-7 days. We have held a discussion on 130-140 seats,” Mr Nath said.

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who also attended the meeting, said that the “list will be released soon”.

“A lot of discussion happened but everything will not be revealed. The list will be released soon,” he said.

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and party MPs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi also attended the meeting. Party leader KC Venugopal too was present.

On October 3, the Congress screening committee held a meeting to decide on the candidates for the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls.

Madhya Pradesh is one of the five states going to polls at the end of this year.

The terms of the legislative assemblies in Telangana, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh are set to conclude on various dates in January of the coming year, while the term of the Mizoram Legislative Assembly will end on December 17 this year.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bhopal:

Congress leader Kamal Nath today mocked Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over not being the face of the BJP’s election campaign in Madhya Pradesh. Mr Nath, a former chief minister, said that whenever Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the state, Mr Chouhan involves him in his “lies”.

“That is why he (PM Modi) has excluded you from the entire election campaign. You are the first Chief Minister in this country, who is the Chief Minister but is not the Chief Minister’s face,” Mr Nath wrote on X, formerly Twitter, hours ahead of PM Modi’s visit to the state today.

The BJP will decide on the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister’s post only after the elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had earlier said when asked if Mr Chouhan will continue in the top post.

“Lying Machine”

The “double speed of your lying machine” has troubled both the Prime Minister and the people of Madhya Pradesh, said the post addressing Mr Chouhan.

PM Modi will today address BJP workers in Bhopal to mark the culmination of his party’s ‘Jan Ashirwad Yatras’ ahead of the year-end assembly polls in MP.

Hours before the mega event, Mr Nath posted a list of Mr Chouhan’s “lies”.

“You told him (PM) in Rewa that the farmers’ income has more than doubled, but NITI Aayog report showed that the income of Madhya Pradesh farmers had decreased,” alleged Mr Nath.

In Bhopal, he said, Mr Chouhan handed a wrong leaflet to the Prime Minister that said the petrol price was less than Rs 100 per litre in Madhya Pradesh. He alleged the Chief Minister also lied over gas cylinder prices in his state.

“When the Prime Minister visited Sagar district, you made him say that the Congress government did not pay attention to Bundelkhand whereas the UPA government had given a special Bundelkhand package of Rs 7,200 crore,” added Mr Nath.

Bhopal:

Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath on Sunday doubted whether the money would be transferred to beneficiaries of the ruling BJP’s flagship Ladli Bahna Yojana on the scheduled date “this time”, a claim dismissed by the BJP as misleading.

Under the scheme, the government transfers Rs 1,250 to the accounts of beneficiaries on the 10th of every month.

After initially announcing to provide Rs 1,000 to beneficiaries of the Yojana, Shivraj Chouhan later said the moeny is being raised to Rs 1,250 and it will be subsequently taken to Rs 3,000.

“Sisters, I heard that this time the 10th (date) is not coming,” Kamal Nath posted on X on Sunday night.

Taking a swipe at the state government’s advertisements, Kamal Nath said after wasting crores of public money for the last four months in the name of “Das Tareekh Aa Rahi Hai” (10th is coming), this time Shivraj government is taking a “U-turn”.

“Das Tareekh Aa Rahi Hai” is the phrase used in the state government’s advertisements.

“This time the date 10 is not coming in the calendar of the BJP government. As this scheme of the government is just a means to cheat votes, similarly their 10th also turned out to be a trick,” Kamal Nath alleged.

Kamal Nath asked why Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan spent people’s hard-earned money running into crores on advertisements just to remind the date for four months.

A day before, Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan announced that unmarried women above 21 years of age would get Rs 1,250 per month as assistance under Ladli Behna Yojana.

At present, there are 1.31 crore beneficiaries of this scheme.

When asked about Kamal Nath’s claims, state BJP secretary Rajneesh Agrawal said the money is transferred under this scheme after a Cabinet decision was taken as per the law.

“The Congress has a long history of cheating people so Kamala Nath is seeing the same and creating doubts to mislead the people. The people know the truth of Congress,” Rajneesh Agrawal said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)